


The Heirloom

by allvilelysunk



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26387260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allvilelysunk/pseuds/allvilelysunk
Summary: On her sixteenth birthday, Izumi makes her official debut as crown princess of the Fire Nation.
Relationships: Izumi & Mai (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 138





	The Heirloom

In her sixteen years, Princess Izumi had never seen a crowd so massive.

Her father stood at the center of the dais, addressing the audience of Fire Nation citizens and visiting foreign dignitaries alike with the relative ease and grace his thirty one years on the throne had afforded him. These people, Izumi reminded herself with a not insignificant amount of dread, were here for _her_. She cast a furtive glance at her mother, who stood by her side as always; in turn, Fire Lady Mai matched her only child’s gaze wearing a scarce smirk, the most emotion she would ever show during a national event such as this.

Izumi was born on the summer solstice, with the sun hanging aloft at the highest point in its daily journey through the heavens. This boded well for her future, the Fire Sages foretold; she would be among the most powerful firebenders the world had ever seen, and her reign as Fire Lord had been blessed by Agni. Zuko, Mai, and later Izumi herself paid no heed to such precarious predictions, which they privately deemed superstitious bunk, but the Fire Sages’ premonitions about her firebending, at the very least, were extraordinarily accurate. Even at her young age, Izumi’s prowess rivaled Princess Azula’s (though she had yet to produce a blue flame, and she doubted she ever would). She had surpassed her father’s firebending skill last year, a momentous feat that endowed Zuko with nothing but joy.

Whether or not Izumi’s reign as Fire Lord would be similarly hallowed was yet to be seen. Izumi hoped she had many decades more before she found out.

Izumi dared peer out into the crowd, and she immediately found Hanzei sitting in the front row with his parents; meeting her gaze, he smiled earnestly at her. At the sight of him alone, her heart swelled with love and confidence. She had known Hanzei since they were small children, and the two had begun to formally date a year ago. His parents were two of Fire Lord Zuko’s most trusted ministers, and thus far, it appeared that the Fire Nation at large approved of the match between the two. Perhaps it was her adolescence showing, but Izumi already felt quite certain that Hanzei would be the man she’d marry one day.

Fire Lord Zuko’s final words roused Izumi from her reverie: “I present to you, at last, your crown princess.”

Thunderous applause arose from the audience. Izumi met her father’s eyes, and his pride shone out from his every feature like sunbeams as he approached her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead before he whispered, “You’re going to be fine, fire lily. Blow them away.”

Zuko’s warm hands fell from her shoulders, and he took his place beside his wife. Izumi’s eyes closed, her chest rising as her lungs filled with a steadying breath of air, and reopened to train upon the crowd when she took center stage. She could feel her family’s eyes on her, their adoration and unyielding support enveloping her in a wave of calm.

“My countrymen,” she began in a sharp and formidable tone, her voice projecting across the vast space, “I stand before you grateful and humbled to be your crown princess. Your unshakable spirit as a people has both challenged and uplifted myself and my family. I strive to meet your strength always, and I hope you will remain vocal and critical as ever if I fail to satisfy your expectations. I, like my mother and father, live to serve and protect you now as your crown princess and in the future as your Fire Lord.

“However, these days, the crown princess must take into consideration not only her own people, but the entire world. To those among you who have traveled from afar to witness me today, I also pledge my service. In these decades since the end of the Hundred-Year War, our world has become more interdependent than it has ever been. The creation of the United Republic of Nations and the rapid advancement of technology have ensured that we are not just four disparate peoples, but one global community. Like my father before me, I will do everything in my power to guarantee that _all_ of us, regardless of national origin, may live and thrive in peace and harmony.

“The history of the Fire Nation is as glorious as it is terrible. We are, indeed, a complicated people with a complicated past. We must continue to reckon with this duality in the future, and we must never forget _all_ for which our nation is responsible, both great and horrific. Under my parents’ rule, our nation has decolonized, made reparations, and begun to rebuild that which it destroyed. But their work is far from over, and as your Fire Lord, I will continue the arduous endeavor of redemption that they started.

“And, most important of all, I will champion each and every one of you. I will someday be your mouthpiece on the world stage, and I will represent you fairly and honorably. Currently, I am doing all that I can to prepare myself for this monumental destiny. Know with confidence that each of you has my ear, from the least to the most fortunate, from the youngest to the eldest, from the native citizen to the immigrant. I have ventured across the farthest reaches of the Fire Nation countless times over to hear you personally, and I have echoed your own words in council meetings and peace summits to ascertain that you are seen in even the loftiest levels of our government. I am unfalteringly relentless in my determination to speak and work for you, no matter my position. As your Fire Lord, this will not change. You, my countrymen, are evermore closest to my heart and my mind.”

Izumi’s lips stretched into a broad, radiant grin. Her relief that her speech had finally reached its conclusion was indescribable. “Thank you all for being here today. Without you, we are nothing. It is the greatest honor and privilege of my life to be your crown princess.”

Izumi bowed and saluted to her audience. The people erupted in rapturous applause.

* * *

At the reception party, Crown Princess Izumi was passed between friends and family at dizzying speeds. Naturally, her first embrace of the night came from her parents; Zuko and Mai’s arms encircled her together, Zuko with tears teeming his golden eyes and Mai teasing him for his open display of emotion in her wry, fond way. Then came her biological aunts and uncle, Azula, Kiyi, and Tomohiko; Aunt Azula was taciturn as ever, but even she could do little to school the warmth of her pride from her otherwise cool demeanor, while Aunt Kiyi and Uncle Tomohiko were characteristically exuberant. Her parade of grandparents followed, and Izumi came perilously close to shedding her own tears when Uncle Iroh and Grandmother Ursa corralled her with their joint congratulations and well-wishes.

Then, of course, the eminent members of Team Avatar and their offspring, who counted among Izumi’s closest friends, descended chaotically upon the helpless crown princess. Kya and Bumi hugged her with such ferocity that Izumi feared for a moment that they’d broken one of her ribs. Mid-hug, Bumi ranted cacophonously about the quality of Izumi’s speech and his jealousy of her new headpiece. Aang and Katara were significantly gentler than their two eldest children, and Tenzin, their youngest, was painfully formal until Sokka commanded him with his “powers of nephewbending” to lighten up. Toph and her two daughters, Lin and Suyin, made the least amount of fuss but expressed their congratulations sincerely, while Sokka and Suki stole Izumi away for a gossip session about current events in Republic City.

The less pleasant matter of mingling with politicians came shortly thereafter. Izumi could exchange meaningless pleasantries with her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back, but the effort was no less emotionally and psychologically taxing. Despite her widely known status as romantically entangled, quite a few eligible bachelors—and some bachelorettes, whose boldness Izumi admittedly admired—also came forth to make their play for Izumi’s hand, but she handily rejected them all. After all, the crown princess was rather capable of dismissing propositions on her own. (However, Fire Lord Zuko still seethed from afar, mildly hostile toward those who haughtily approached his daughter.) Hanzei simply laughed at each repudiation, confident as he was in his relationship with Izumi.

Soon, the entertaining but exhausting day came to a close. Guests trickled out of the ballroom, servants skittering in and out to clear away cups and plates and various messes left behind. Team Avatar (sans Zuko) and their children retired to their rooms in the palace, where they would stay the night and depart the next day.

On one of the palace’s many balconies, Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Lady Mai, and Crown Princess Izumi shared a pot of tea (brewed with love by Uncle Iroh before he succumbed to fatigue and dragged himself to bed). Izumi’s eyes followed Druk as he slithered across the blackness of the night, chasing Appa and Oogi high above their heads. Occasionally, she split the companionable silence with her laughter at Appa’s playfulness or Oogi’s indignation.

With time, Izumi tore her gaze away from the spectacle overhead and fixed it on her father. “You became Fire Lord at my age,” she stated.

Wrested from his idle musings, Zuko tilted his head. “I did,” he replied.

Izumi sighed empathetically. “I can’t imagine being ready for that _now_.”

“I shouldn’t have been ready,” her father admitted. “In many ways, I wasn’t. But I was the only one standing in the way of the Fire Nation destroying the entire world. It had to be me.”

“I still don’t fully understand why Uncle didn’t take the throne. Clearly, he was right about you, but why foist that kind of responsibility on a sixteen-year-old?” Most of Uncle Iroh’s wisdom was gospel in Izumi’s estimation, but this call remained a mystery to her.

Zuko took a sip of his tea as he considered his response. Mai looked on, watching her husband and daughter talk with a hawkish flicker in her eye.

“Uncle wasn’t always the way you know him now, Izumi,” Zuko explained. “He was kind and loving to his family, but he was led to believe that his destiny was to conquer in the name of the Fire Nation. He spent the first half of his life warmongering, and because of that, he had a negative reputation in the rest of the world. He was hated and feared—understandably so.”

None of this information was new to Izumi, but to hear it described this way in this context made Zuko’s (and, by extension, Iroh’s) point clear to her before Zuko had the opportunity to make it himself.

“That reputation would have hindered him as Fire Lord,” Izumi deduced. Her father nodded. “No matter what he said or did, the other nations would never have felt safe with him on the throne. But you were still young, and you hadn’t done nearly as much to hurt the world.”

“Thankfully, yes,” Zuko confirmed. To this day, the infrequent pang of remorse and shame seized him for his unsavory actions in his youth, betraying Uncle Iroh and taking Ba Sing Se with Azula chief among them. He felt it keenly now as he reminisced. “It took _me_ a long time to earn the world’s trust as it was. Uncle would’ve been hopeless. Besides, his true passion hadn’t been in ruling since my cousin died.”

“And yours was?” Izumi inquired.

Zuko smirked, self-deprecating. “Eventually.”

“Your father didn’t have much of a passion beyond restoring his honor for a few years,” Mai contributed, a hint of amusement on her tongue as a string of jokes made by herself and their friends through the years sprung to mind. “Ozai made sure that his children’s sole drive in life was to serve him. It’s the reason your aunt was aimless for such a long time after Ozai was locked up.”

Anger sparked in Izumi’s breast. Raised by such devoted parents herself, she could scarcely imagine what growing up in the iron grip of a cruel authoritarian such as Ozai had been like for her father and her aunt. Although they were her elders, Izumi felt bizarrely protective of Zuko and Azula when she thought of Ozai.

For a while, Izumi didn’t quite know what to say to that, so instead she listened as her parents continued the discussion amongst themselves.

“You’re one to talk,” Zuko retorted nonchalantly.

“Oh, that’s right,” Mai drawled. “I was just a big _blah_ , wasn’t I?”

A deep flush colored Zuko’s cheeks, prominent even under the dark cast of night. All these years later, having _that_ thrown back in his face momentarily floored him.

Mai snorted. She lightly smacked her husband on the forearm. “I’m joking, Zuko,” she reassured him. “It’s a wonder we’ve made it this far.”

The blush receded as soon as it appeared, but Zuko laughed somewhat uncomfortably. Fortunately, he salvaged his sloppy recovery by cupping his wife’s cheek and rendering a kiss to the corner of her lips. “Not to me,” he rasped.

The brazen demonstration of affection between her parents was enough to stir Izumi from her quiet interlude. She grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Would you _please_ save it for when I’m gone?” she implored them.

Mai drew back from Zuko’s lips just enough to speak clearly. “That depends, kid,” came her gravelly, amused rejoinder. “When will you be gone?”

Izumi gave her mother a sharp, challenging look. “How would you like it if Hanzei and I made out in front of you?”

Zuko’s shoulders slumped at the mental image, and he pulled away from Mai completely. “Alright, moment’s over,” he conceded morosely.

Izumi couldn’t help her laugh. “Sorry, Dad,” she said with sincerity. She raised her cup to her mouth and swallowed the last of her tea in a single gulp. “I guess I’ll leave you both to… _that_. Good night, Mother, Father.”

She motioned to rise from her pillow, but her mother dissuaded her with a wave of her hand. “Not yet, Iz. We have something for you. Well, your father has something for you.”

“No, it’s from the both of us,” Zuko insisted graciously. “But I’ll do the honors.” Zuko produced a small object enshrouded in a silk, crimson cloth from underneath his robes. He reached across the low table between them to offer it to his daughter.

When Izumi took the item from his outstretched hand, her father went on, “It used to be worn by the heir to the Fire Nation throne until Fire Lord Sozin gave it to Avatar Roku.”

Izumi unfolded the cloth wrapping to unveil an ancient-looking Fire Nation headpiece. Shaded in the gold of the royal family, its twin flame prongs faced opposite one another and were joined in the center by a burgundy hair pin. Unlike the headpiece of the Fire Lord or the one Izumi now wore as the crown princess, it was made to encircle a topknot rather than be thrust into one.

“It’s so enmeshed with Roku’s image that I wanted to give you a different headpiece to wear as the crown princess, but… I think this should be yours as an heirloom to keep. Uncle Iroh gave it to me years ago, right before I decided to help Aang defeat my father.”

The crown princess cradled the heirloom close. With an acutely discerning eye, she brought it to her face and inspected it closely. She traced a careful fingertip along its curves and details, admiring its beauteous craftsmanship. She decided that she would examine it further tomorrow and take special note of the intricacies in its design that would demarcate the era of its creation, and with some visible reluctance, she lowered it and rose to her feet.

“Thank you.” Wholehearted gratitude shimmering within the gold pools of her eyes, Izumi rounded the small table that separated her from her parents and gathered them both in her arms. Her parents returned her hug bodily. “Thank you so much. I promise, I’ll take good care of it.”

“You’ll probably take better care of it than I have.” Zuko chuckled. “I can already see the cogs turning in your brain. You’re going to write a whole treatise about the history of that headpiece by the end of the week.”

Izumi grumbled good-naturedly in response.

Her mother pecked her cheek. “We’re so proud of you, Izumi. The nation’s future couldn’t be in better hands.”

“Thank you, Mom. I’d rather it stay in your hands for a little while longer, though.”

“You won’t have to worry about taking over for a while if I have any say in it,” was Zuko’s reassurance. “You still have plenty of Fire Lord lessons to get through.”

Izumi distributed kisses to each of her parents’ cheeks before she withdrew from them both. “Just thinking about it is making me tired,” she quipped with a yawn. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

“Good night,” chimed her parents in unison, and Izumi departed the balcony with a wave.

The Fire Lord and Lady watched her leave, waiting in silence until they could no longer hear her footsteps. The instant they were in the clear, they once again enfolded each other into an intimate embrace.

“I thought she’d never leave,” deadpanned Mai, nuzzling her husband’s nose with her own.

Zuko snickered against Mai’s skin. “You can drop the annoyed act. You’re not that convincing.”

“Lost my touch, have I?” Mai cradled Zuko’s left cheek, her fingertips lovingly grazing the coarse, red skin of his burn.

Zuko leaned into her caress and brushed his lips with hers. “Never.”

“Zuko, can you believe we made that girl?” For once, Mai’s aloof façade dropped. Her eyes gleamed brilliantly with what Zuko dared presume were _tears_. “She’s so clever, so beautiful. She can’t be real.”

Well, now that Mai of all people had deigned to crying, Zuko was powerless to repress his own tears. “That’s all you,” he murmured shakily.

“Don’t say that,” Mai chastised gently, half jesting. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you. She’s both of us, and she’s her own entirely.”

Zuko had no witty retort for her. Instead, Izumi’s parents kissed under the moonlight with boundless pride and adoration in their hearts for their greatest creation.


End file.
